Documents used for an identification (ID documents) of a document owner, for example ID documents having only printed information, are typically falsified by manipulation of optical features, i.e. a photograph of the document owner, written content on the document or the hologram, etc.
ID documents including, for example in addition to printed information, also electronically stored information may be referred to as electronic identification documents, identification documents with electronic function, or eID documents.
Since the information stored in an electronic identification document, e.g. on a chip, e.g. a semiconductor chip, of an eID document can not be easily manipulated, a counterfeiter's strategy may typically be a destruction of the electronic device by submission to microwave radiation.
Currently, the microwave manipulation cannot be detected by optical inspection or other inspection methods, the ID card, for example the electronic function of the eID card, is simply considered as being defective.
Here, the counterfeiter may take advantage of an at least at present legal situation that the eID document is considered as valid, even if the electronic part of the document is defective. In other words, if the electronic part is defective, upon a check of the electronic identification document, for example by customs officials, the document may be accepted solely based on the optical information (which may for example be more easily counterfeited) present on the document.
Currently, there is no method available to detect the microwave attack on eID documents.